Help!!!! Before tragedy strikes again!!!

[hotelvoodoo]

So BP, our first clutch of eggs is now on day 57,and all the eggs have pipped. We woke up this morning to one little pinstripe, our first hatchling ever poking his head out. We went to work and I came home to two more nosing out and the pinstripe all the way out, laying in a weird position on the substrate. No tongue flickers and breathing heavily into his extremely skinny belly. I wasn't sure what to do, so I leaned down to examine the egg and I startled the hatchling and it jerked back.

Even though he was extremely lethargic, I figured he was probably just exhausted from crawling out of the egg. He had trailed his umbilicus out with him. I went to my second shift and when I came back home he was dead. He was in the same position with the umbilicus looking thinner. There was a strange lump inside the egg, possibly undigested yolk. So my question is, what the hell did I do wrong? Should I be worrying about his brothers and sisters who, as I type, are beginning to pop their heads out? And what can I do to avoid another dead hatchling.... I am am so broken hearted. I just want to be sure that the other five hatchlings will survive and be in good health. Does this seem like a bad sign for the whole clutch or was this just a freak thing for that first hatchling?

Any info or advice is much appreciated.

[elbee]

I haven't hatched babies yet so I'm afraid I'm not sure what to tell you. Sounds like maybe he just didn't absorb his yolk? I hope all your other little ones are fine and I'm sorry to hear about the pinstripe.

[Coopers Constrictors]

My first hatchling this season had a kinked tail. I about shot myself in the foot because I thought it may have been something I did wrong. Freak things happen, just don't panic... it comes with breeding all animals.

As for your issue... is the humidity and temperature up to par? How many times have you disturbed the clutch? Is your incubator in a high traffic area? (lots of footsteps/vibrations)? Did you cut the eggs to assist them in piping?

[hotelvoodoo]

The humidity and temps have been stellar throughout incubation, and we've checked the eggs about twice a day since day 50. After the first hatchling pipped we took the eggs out twice to look the hatchling over. The incubator is dark and out of the way of any kind of traffic. That particular hatchling and four of the other pipped on their own and we cut the last egg. The strange this is, this guy was out and about really soon. Even if he'd hatched the hour we'd gone to sleep, he'd only have been in the egg for like ten hours before completely coming out. All of the other hatchlings that have pipped have been in their eggs and stayed in them for at least that long now. Strange...

[ClarkT]

It seems to typically take around 24 hours for them to completely absorb the yolk.

It may have been a case of too much disturbance after he pipped. But that's just a possible reason. Disturbing them while in the egg usually doesn't cause problems...

Hope all the others are ok.
Best of Luck to you!

[FireStorm]

From your description, it sounds like he tried to leave the egg with the umbilicus and yolksac still attached (he hadn't absorbed all the yolk). So, my guess would be that he either wasn't going to make it from the get go for some reason (it happens occasionally) or he did some internal damage from pulling on the umbilicus. It's hard to say for sure why this happened, but it could be that something startled him, the umbilicus could have been twisted, or it could just be one of those things that happens for no apparent reason, so your best bet is to leave the other babies alone as much as possible just to be safe. I don't think the clutch is doomed...I think the others will most likely be fine.

[Coopers Constrictors]

Agreed. Seems like he was in a hurry for some reason. Best of luck with the rest of the babies! Keep us updated.

[sharkrocket]

Hey everybody. This is the hotelvoodoo's other half. We have 3 healthy hatchlings sitting on damp paper towels and 2 still chilling in their eggs. Looks like we are going to be just fine, so thanks for your help so far.

As for the one that died, I was the first one to see him/her. It was crawling around, and I ran to get hotelvoodoo. When we got back to the incubator, he/she was back in the egg. It might have been at that time that a kink developed in the umbilicus, but who knows really. I don't think we could have been much more careful up until that point, but I guess my advice would be to try not to harrass them right away. Who knows if it was ducking back into the egg that caused an issue?

[hotelvoodoo]

Hey BP! Just wanted to end the thread on a happy note and tell everyone that the other five hatchlings are out and doing great. Two very nice normals, two pinstripes, and a lesser. Looks like it was multi-sire after all!!! Happy day.

[4theSNAKElady]

wow! two normals, two pins and a lesser? That's a neat clutch! Im glad theyre all doing well. And don't worry, sometimes these things just happen. You didn't do anything wrong.